Progetti di ricerca

DigiPE is a five-year research project funded by the Italian Science Fund (Fondo Italiano per la Scienza – FIS 3). It investigates how parents acquire knowledge, learn strategies, and (co-/de-)construct pedagogical and cultural models related to their role, caregiving responsibilities,… Leggi tutto and children’s growth and wellbeing through digital ecosystems made up of apps, websites, social media platforms, and generative artificial intelligence tools. Conceptualizing these environments as everyday spaces of informal learning, the project examines both the epistemic processes through which parents acquire, evaluate, reinterpret, and co-construct knowledge about parenting, and the deontic dynamics through which normative and neoliberal models of “good” parenting are reinforced, negotiated, or contested across different practices of digital content consumption and production. Adopting a systemic perspective and a mixed-methods design combining a national survey, longitudinal qualitative interviews, and digital ethnography, DigiPE explores contemporary parents’ learning experiences during the transition to parenthood and throughout early childhood (0–8 years). Expected outcomes include research-based theoretical frameworks on the formation of parenting knowledge and identity; open-access resources for parents and professionals in education and healthcare; recommendations for the development of more ethical and inclusive digital environments; and increased public awareness of the role of digital media and generative artificial intelligence in contemporary caregiving practices.